Pip Pip Hooray!!!

Friday 18th March was the ERA awards at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham.  We donned our posh frocks and black ties (Steve looking particularly  dashing as James Bond!!) and headed down.

The compere for the evening was Hal Cruttenden – he managed to keep us all entertained through the long night and many categories!!

Our book Pip, which was developed with EMAS UK, won the Best Educational Book award.  Steve and Anne joined John and Liz Foxwell, Debbie Mills and Chris Pickles on stage to collect the award.  Judges said of the entry – “The judges thought that these attractively-presented books met a real need that is not available elsewhere. They had been proved to boost the self-esteem of EAL students with their colourful images illustrating a novel
idea, fulfilling a need across a range of languages.”

Our other entry Pirates Collaboration lost out the Maths Whizz in the Innovation award – we’ll be back with another entry for Innovation next year – watch this space!!!

Quote of the evening had to be from a lady on another table who said after seeing Anne on stage “now there’s a woman who’s so creative she can’t keep it inside!!!” That’s our Annie and we love her for it!!!!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Scurvy Pirates of Bradford

We asked Salty Steve (AKA Steve Dale) from Bradford to give us some feedback of the first sailing of the Dirty Dog adventure.

“Over the last 6 weeks 30 Bradford schools and over 600 pupils participated in the first Bradford Pirate Shared Adventure which has been run by the Bradford Learning Network team at Education Bradford.

The 6 week adventure was based on a scheme developed by Shoofly in which classes participated in weekly live video broadcasts using video conferencing.  The pupils then went on to complete a host of tasks with prizes awarded for the best entries.

The scheme was primarily designed to engage boys in writing but the activities ranged from designing flags, writing CV’s, cooking Pirate food and making Pirate Pop videos.

Schools celebrated the end of the project by holding pirate parties and the winning school of the Treasure seekers Challenge will spend a day geocaching with the Pirate Team from Education Bradford’s Curriculum ICT Team.

The project, the first of its type to be run in Bradford, was a great success and enjoyed by both pupils and staff.    For more information to see the pupils work visits and the live broadcasts visit www.bradfordpirate.net

Quotes from the “Crews Captains”

“The children have been so engaged with the project, and have made good progress not only in the areas of learning incorporated within the theme, but also across the curriculum perhaps as a result of enjoying being in school and anticipating the next pirate challenge.”

“It has had a positive impact upon boys writing. All children thoroughly enjoyed the topic.”

“We have used the pirate theme to base all our other subjects around. It has increased the ICT skills of the children using the live broadcast to write back on the wall and use a new piece of software. The shared adventure has captured the imaginations of the class and motivated their learning.”

“I have used the information from the training course as a starting point for a Creative Curriculum topic. I have been able to gain ideas from the information provided by Bradford together with things that the children wanted to research as well as my own ideas! The children have been engaged with this whole project and have thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Quotes from the “Pirate Crews”

“I liked doing missing posters of Rosa the cat and making pirates and painting”

“I am most proud of my C.V because I think I did really well”

“Pirate CV, and Homework project was the best”

“I was most proud of me treasure chest because I was top of me class”

“I liked making hard tack”

“It was very nice and we got to work with our classmates” “

Thanks to Steve and Tina for their amazing work and enthusiasm!!!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Shoofly Shortlisted

Hooray!! We were very pleased to find out last week that our collaboration software Pirate Online has been shortlisted in the Innovation category of the Education Resource Awards.  Bradford ICT advisor Salty Steve (AKA Steve Dale) and Northumberland ICT advisor Sue Wild wrote testimonials for us and showed how it was being used.  (www.bradfordpirates.net, www.ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk)  These awards are presented as part of the Education show in Birmingham on the 18th March www.education-show.com.  Our collaboration with EMAS Uk, Pip, has also been shortlisted in the Education Book Award – we hope to all be able to have a table together in Birmingham!

Check out the other shortlisted resources in the pdf ERA Shortlist

Lindeth College Ambleside

I eventually made it back over to Lindeth College in the Lake District last week, for my second session of SMART board training with the tutors.  We had cancelled this twice because of snow and then sickness at the residential college, so it was great to finally make it over.  The college is situated near to Lake Windermere and caters for up to 36 residential learners providing individualised programmes for learners aged 16-25 with moderate to severe learning difficulties or disabilities, challenging behaviour and complex needs. www.craegmoor.co.uk

We were looking at how to get the most from the SMART board that they had installed and I was working with tutors from business, catering and conservation.  By the end of the day we had created some simple resources for the tutors to use in lessons.

Shirley Harrison also told me that they are renting out the cottages when the students are away – in the summer and over Christmas as long as there is at least one member of the group with a learning difficulty/physical disability.  If anyone is interested then have a look at the pdf and get in touch with Shirley! Holiday Letting

Discovering Discovery

We visited Dundee last week with 3 of the students involved in the Thin Ice project.  Dundee’s Discovery museum is home to the Discovery – the ship that Captain Scott used in his 1901 expedition (www.rrsdiscovery.com). The museum is full of information and artefacts from the era, showing the simple clothes, tools and rations that the explorers had.  The Discovery is open to the public and the students were allowed to explore and use the ship to gather images and video for their project.

Brian Kelly of the museum had gathered together some of the clothes and equipment that would have been worn in 1901, for Jake to wear in the photos.  The group were then able to move around the ship accessing Scott’s cabin, the research areas and then back into the museum for some final snowy scenes.

Virginia Kennedy was there to help with the development of drama – Jake worked with her to create a short movie clip helping him to get into character.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Green Directions, Sheffield

I had the pleasure of training Mark Woodward of Green Directions.  He is based at Townfield Head Farm in Stannington, Sheffield and has set up a business to educate children and teachers and provide inspiring conference, meeting and training facilities on a 10 acre smallholding which enjoys spectacular views of the Peak District National Park.

The farm has been renovated using green technologies and offers visitors a unique opportunity to discover how, for example, wind turbines, ground source heatpumps and rainwater recycling work while engaging in team building, training or educational activities.

Visitors can also meet the Tamworth pigs, see how they grow their vegetables and fruit and try the charcuterie and homemade chocolates (which are delicious, I have to say!)

The meeting room is equipped with a Smart Interactive Whiteboard and Mark wanted some training to show the potential to use during meetings, training and lessons.

We had a great 3 hour session solving a couple of technical issues too!!  By the end of session, we had looked at how to make lessons more engaging and interactive and how to use the recorder and video player to make use of some of the other resources Mark had access to.

The farm made a perfect setting for training and Mark’s knowledge and passion for sustainability was infectious!  It makes a relaxing, engaging, informative meeting/training venue!!

Check out www.greendirections.co.uk to find out more

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Thin Ice Project developments

Virginia Kennedy has begun work with the students of Cramlington Learning Village on the Thin Ice project.  She is documenting her work on her blog virginiakennedy.blogspot.com.

Next Tuesday we are visiting Dundee Heritage Museum with some of the students to collect evidence, photographs and artefacts to use in the videos.  The students will explore the Discovery ship – the ship that Captain Scott used as part of the The 1901 British National Antarctic Expedition.  Check out the Discovery webpage at www.rrsdiscovery.com.

Photos of our adventure will be posted next week.